By Ben Kerrigan-
US president Donald Trump has said he is prepared to apologize for retweeting posts from a British far-right group.
Trump told Piers Morgan on ITV’s This Morning that he knew “nothing” about Britain First before sharing three of its videos in November.
“If you are telling me they’re horrible people, horrible, racist people, I would certainly apologise if you’d like me to do that,” he told Morgan.
The interview, held in Davos, will be broadcast on 28 January at 22:00 GMT.
The president’s sharing of the controversial videos to his 40 million followers sparked a Twitter row with the UK prime minister, who criticised the move.
“I’m very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do,” Mrs May said, prompting Mr Trump to instruct the PM to focus on “terrorism” in the UK instead.
Mr Trump said he sent the tweets ” because I am a big believer in fighting radical Islamic terror”.
The U.S president said he knew nothing about Britain First before sharing posts by the group’s deputy leader Jayda Fransen –
who faces a trial in April, accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting words at a protest in Belfast last year.
“I know nothing about them, I don’t want to be involved with people [like that],” Mr Trump told Morgan.
Mr Trump told Morgan: “Here’s what’s fair – if you’re telling me they’re horrible people, horrible racist people, I would certainly apologize if you’d like me to do that. Brendan Cox, whose wife Jo Cox was murdered by an extremist who shouted
“Britain First” as he fired his gun, praised Morgan for pushing for an apology.
“Not many have succeeded in getting one,” said Mr Cox, who was among those who rebuked Mr Trump for promoting the far-right group. Trump’s expression of remorse for the retweets should be taken in good faith. The American president is known for his strong feelings against Islamic terrorism and may have blindly wanted to identify with Britain first who share his disapproval of terrorism.
The only problem here was that Britain First go a few steps beyond disapproving of Islamic terrorism, and actually promote what many consider to be Islamaphobia. It is this sort of deep-rooted hate and division that society is trying to avoid, and which led to the uproar that accompanied Trump’s retweets. However, Trump now appreciates the problem his retweets caused, and his acknowledgement of the error is most welcome.